Over the years Purecolloids, have sought to educate and advise about the uses of Colloidal Silver. One of the principal questions we are often asked is regarding the colour of colloidal silver. Many companies who actually manufacture a product correctly called ionic silver solution, state that the best colloidal silver should be perfectly clear, as this is the purest colloid with the smallest particle size. This contention is of course complete nonsense, and is either designed to confuse, or springs from pure ignorance of the physics and chemistry of colloids. Sometimes colloids are described as solutions or by others solutions are described as colloids. The reality is that the two, whilst both containing silver are totally different.
The difference is important not just because of the physical properties, but also because the usefulness of the silver contained in them is affected.
Colloids are insoluble substances suspended by various means in another substance. Solutions are ions or compounds which are dissolved in a liquid, usually water.
So why does it matter you might say. Both products have silver in them so they must be the same. This statement could not be further from the truth.
When it comes to silver, the differences between a solution and a colloid are further complicated by the size of the particles, which is also important in relation to colour.
Although there is some fairly complex physics involved many companies are insulting the intelligence of their customers with untruths that a first grade chemistry student would find laughable. Take this explanation below from a site selling ionic products as a typical example.
- -; Nanoparticles of silver are added to water and due to the almost weightless nature of the particles, the silver is suspended in the water.
There are two main benefits to this…
There will be no silver sediment at the bottom of the container.
The particles are evenly distributed throughout the solution, allowing for more effective application;-
Nanoparticles are not added to to water ! They do not actually exist in nature as something you could pour out of a bottle. In 99% of cases an electric current is passed through water causing the silver electrodes to degrade into silver ions, which are soluble in water. Randomly, some particles that are also produced by this method but they are of massive size and are effectively useless in any therapeutic sense.
In this example a clear silver ionic solution will stay a silver solution. There are no silver sedimentation because the ions are soluble, but in no sense could they be called particles. This sleight of hand is very common in literature concerning silver products. It is so common that some modern day reference sites have even gone so far as to totally re write the meanings of such chemical terms as SOL. SOL is an abréviation of SOLUTION is is not
“a colloidal suspension made out of tiny solid particles in a continuous liquid medium. Sols are quite stable and show the Tyndall effect. Examples include amongst others blood, pigmented ink, cell fluids, paint, antacids and mud”.
This text was taken from Wikipedia, but there are many other examples of this misrepresentation of terminology to be found on the internet. The above is a description correctly applied to a COLLOID, except that the medium could be a gas or any other substance, solutions do not exhibit the TYNDAL EFFECT.
There is even one reference site we have seen where SOL sometimes called HYDROSOL is described as COLLOIDAL SOLUTION, which is bit like describing a solid gas. Of course both liquids and gases can become solids under extreme conditions, but not at the same time!
Another says that a SOL equals COLLOID. If that is the case why have two words for the same thing?
Regardless, many of the people describing their products as a SOL which equals a colloid, with another deft sleight of hand, describe ions as particles. Ions ARE NOT PARTICLES and in the case of silver, ions formed by electrolysis are diSOLved in water.
They are not in a colloidal suspension.
Summary: Colloids of silver have colour but that does not imply particle size, Ionic solutions are clear.